Understanding Dyslexia

By Cosmos Theodora U17mm1191

A child at a certain age who struggles to read and write in a typical Nigerian setting will be termed a dullard, or whispered of being affected by evil spirits or village people. Teachers at some point see this child as a lost cause and will apply the let my people go technique to pass such a child to the next class. This happens because of the limited awareness of a learning disability known as dyslexia.

Dyslexia is a learning disorder that disrupts how one’s brain processes written language, it affects the ability to read, write and speak. People with such disability find it difficult to perform language related task, identifying speech sounds and how to relate them to letter and words. According to experts estimate, dyslexia affects about 7% of people worldwide. In Nigeria, from an article by premium times after a dyslexia foundation conference, it stated that more than 32 million Nigerians struggle with learning disorder, that is to say one out of ten people may be struggling with dyslexia. This disorder is mostly identified early on with children. However, it could also be found in teens and adults.

Now, what could be the cause of this?

Dyslexia has no certain cause but some hints as to how most cases happen can be traced to:

· Genetics- a child with one parent who has this disability has a 30 to 50% chance of inheriting it.

· Disruptions in brain development and function- due to exposure to toxic substances or infections that hinders further development of brain activities can result to dyslexia.

Dyslexia comes in different stages from mild, moderate to severe and are difficult to recognize before a child is enrolled in to school. Some symptoms to look for before a child gets enrolled are:

Ø When a child is late in talking

Ø Slow in learning new words

Ø Difficulty in learning news words and learning rhymes.

Other symptoms when a child is enrolled includes:

Ø Difficulty in spelling words

Ø Having troubles with the learning of alphabets, letters and numbers

Ø Confusing certain letter like “d” and “b” and “q” and “p”

Ø Reading speed is below average

Ø Spending long hours to complete a reading or writing task

Ø Avoiding participation in any reading or writing exercise

It should be noted that dyslexia is a lifelong issue and it is advised that early testing is done when such symptoms are observed.

As earlier stated dyslexia does not only affect children but adults too and with such comes challenges such as having social problems or hiding their situation because of the misconceptions regarding dyslexia, such that it is a disease and it makes those affected perceive themselves as less intelligent people. For children, they have no control over this disorder and may tend to get frustrated and act out of character or withdraw from their peers.

In this regard, awareness that dyslexia is a lifelong learning disorder which isn’t curable but can be managed with the appropriate tools in place such as getting a specialist involved and applying an interventional and educational techniques as well as emotional support from family by spending time and reading out loud to them. As bleak as dyslexia may seem, it doesn’t mean that does affected are not brilliant or do not excel in life. It may shock you to know that some of your favourite actors have this disorder starting with Tom Cruise in the Top Gun Maverick movie, Tom Holland our favorite spider man and Kaenu Reeves “john wick”. More on dyslexia can be gotten from the video below.